PUTTING PRESSUE ON BLACK'S SEMI-SLAV

by Manuel Monasterio

As I have pointed out in several occasions, I like to play both sides of the Semi-Slav. In this article we will take a look at a not so popular Black approach, which demanded from White some independent thinking.

This time my opponent is the Italian Master Sergio Sacerdotali, a dangerous player against whom I have been rather lucky so far. We have played five games against each other, the first game was a draw, later I  won three and lost one. Every one of the encounters had some theoretical interest, as we will eventually see. Just for the record, I include now our first game, a pleasant Sicilian Sveshnikov with some little fireworks. As we shall see in a later article, I also like White's chosen line against the Sveshnikov, although I prefer a somewhat more original approach than the one selected by Sacerdotali in the following game:
 
Sacerdotali,Sergio - Monasterio,Manuel Gerardo  [B33]
CM.2003.0.00210 IECG, 04.02.2003
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Nd5 Nxd5 8.exd5 Nb8 9.Be3 a6 10.Na3 Nd7 11.Qd2 Be7 12.Nc4 0-0 13.a4 f5 14.f4 exf4 15.Bxf4 Nc5 16.Be2 Bf6 17.0-0 Ne4 18.Qc1 Bd7 19.Be3 Qe7 20.Nb6 Rae8 21.Bh5 g6 22.Bf3 Be5 23.g3 f4 24.gxf4 Bh3 25.fxe5 Bxf1 26.Qxf1 Ng5 27.Bxg5 Qxg5+ 28.Kh1 Qe3 29.Nc4 Qxf3+ 30.Qxf3 Rxf3 31.exd6 Re2 32.d7 Rf8 33.Nb6 Kg7 34.Rc1 Rff2 35.d8=Q, 1/2-1/2.

Immediately after this encounter, fate reunited us in two simultaneous games at two different tournaments. Just to show that Mr. Sacerdotali is nobody's weak sister, here you have the game he won against me:

Sacerdotali,Sergio - Monasterio,Manuel Gerardo  [B97]
QM.2003.0.00053 IECG, 15.02.2003
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Nb3 Nbd7 9.Qf3 Be7 10.Bd3 Qc7 11.0-0-0 b5 12.a3 Rb8 13.Rhe1 h6 14.Qh3 e5 15.f5 b4 16.axb4 Rxb4 17.Bd2 Nb6 18.g4 Rg8 19.Kb1 Nc4 20.Bc1 (a cunning improvement over 20.Bxc3 in Leko-Polgar, Linares 2001 which ended in a draw.) 20...Bb7 21.Na2 Rb6? (I should have tried 21...Ra4!? with almost balanced chances) 22.Qf1! Rc6 23.h4 Nxg4 24.Nb4 Rb6 25.Nd5 Bxd5 26.exd5 Rb4 27.Re4 Nce3 28.Rxe3 Nxe3 29.Bxe3 Rxh4 30.Bxa6 Bg5 31.Qb5+ Qd7 32.Bf2 Rf4 33.Bg3 Rf3 34.Qb4 Ke7 35.Bxe5, 1-0.

OK. In later articles I will discuss with you two more rather interesting games against the same opponent. Now, let us go to the Semi-Slav affair...

Monasterio,Manuel Gerardo - Sacerdotali,Sergio  [D45]
QM.2003.0.00053 IECG, 15.02.2003
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e6 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Qc2

I rarely allow the Meran, which could be reached by Black after the natural 6.Bd3. I rather prefer this positional approach which is a favorite of Anatoly Karpov, a player whose strategical  understanding I greatly respect!

6...b6

The first little surprise. Although this is not by any means a novel move, it is certainly not the most used in this position. Every Semi-Slav lover will recall the attacking gem produced by GM Zvjaginsev after some mistakes from his Chilean colleague:

Cifuentes Parada,Roberto (2535) - Zvjaginsev,Vadim (2585) [D45]
Hoogovens op Wijk aan Zee (1), 01.1995
1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 b6 7.Be2 Bb7 8.0-0 Be7 9.Rd1 0-0 10.e4 dxe4 11.Nxe4 Qc7 12.Nc3 c5 13.d5 exd5 14.cxd5 a6 15.Nh4 g6 16.Bh6 Rfe8 17.Qd2 Bd6 18.g3 b5 19.Bf3 b4 20.Ne2 Ne4 21.Qc2 Ndf6 22.Ng2 Qd7 23.Ne3 Rad8 24.Bg2 Nxf2 25.Kxf2 Rxe3 26.Bxe3 Ng4+ 27.Kf3 Nxh2+ 28.Kf2 Ng4+ 29.Kf3 Qe6 30.Bf4 Re8 31.Qc4 Qe3+ 32.Bxe3 Rxe3+ 33.Kxg4 Bc8+ 34.Kg5 h6+ 35.Kxh6 Re5, 0-1.

Of course, I had no intention of repeating that White tragedy!

7.Bd3 Bb7 8.0-0 Bd6 9.e4 dxe4 10.Nxe4 Nxe4 11.Bxe4 h6

   This was a new move at the time. Although ...h6 is a rather natural move for Black in this type of position (he creates some "luft" for his King), only 11...Nf6 and 11...Qc7 have been tried earlier -- although we must say, with rather appalling results for Black.

Now I was completely on my own.

I was sure that the best approach in this position was to play against Black's rather awkward Bishop at b7. Beside that, several moves  were available. 12.Be3 seems the most natural, but even 12.c5!? or 12.b4 were also possible.

I did not want to burn my bridges so early, therefore I chose what I believe to be the most non-committing move, but also one that certainly fits the needs of the position.

12.Bd2!?

Two years later, the German GM Uhlmann (a player whose style I like very much) chose 12.Be3, but also with the general idea of playing against the Bishop at b7 as follows:

12.Be3 Nf6 13.Bd3 0-0 14.Rad1 Qe7 15.c5 Bc7 16.Rfe1 Nd5 17.Bd2 Rfd8 18.g3 Rd7 19.a3 Rdd8 20.Qc1 Qf8 21.Bb1 Ne7 22.Qc2 g6 23.Qc1 Kh7 24.Re4 Nf5 25.g4 Ne7 26.h4 Nd5 27.h5 Re8 28.g5 f5 29.Rh4 hxg5 30.Nxg5+ Kg7 31.Nxe6+, 1-0. Uhlmann,Wolfgang - Kaiser,Sebastian, Dresden op 23.07.2005.

12...Nf6 13.b4

This move does not need explanation, as it was the main idea behind 12.Bd2.

13...0-0 14.c5 Nxe4 15.Qxe4 Be7

White allows Black to obtain the two Bishops, for several reasons. In the first place Black's Knight was a very important defensive piece; it also was a piece that pointed toward important central squares. Besides that, White immediately gets centralized pieces all dangerously pointing toward Black's kingside, and both Black Bishops are rather passively placed. In fact, the one at b7 is rather pathetic.

16.Qg4 

Brutal, unsophisticated, and highly effective!

16...Kh7 17.Rfe1 Qd5 18.Re5 Qc4

Black has played the most natural -- and quite useless -- maneuver that he had at his disposal, which has resulted in another Black piece being led away from the defence of his King. Bad positions suggest bad plans and bad moves.

19.Qe4+ Kg8 20.Re1 Rfd8 

The last move that White needed to fulfill the slaughter of Black's King

21.Bxh6!

The kind of move that still needs a human player behind it, as engines do not see the picture so clearly. I was trying to produce this shot for a long time. Analysis proved that it was already not only a possible, but  also a winning, move.

  21...gxh6 22.Qg4+ Kf8 23.Qf4

A move whose real aim is not to attack the h6-pawn, but the more important e6-square.

23...Ke8 24.Rxe6!

The point. Now 24...fxe6 is not legal because 25.Ne5 is just crushing.
 
24...Qxe6 25.Rxe6 fxe6 26.Ne5 Rd5 27.Qf7+ Kd8 28.Qxe6 Rxe5 29.Qxe5 Rc8 30.f4 Bf8 31.Qf6+, 1-0. Black is still suffering from the lack of piece coordination that was his fate since the early stages of the game. As the result is not debatable anymore, Black decided to give up.